Learn the profession; interesting work, but not a lot of variety. Great junior people; eager to learn and willing to lend a hand. A few terrific senior partners; too bad I didn't work for them. Looks great on a resume when you go for the next job. I learned all I could about the particular area I worked in spite of the overwhelmingly bad management. Most of the people I worked with are long gone.

Cons

I was treated like second class scum by my senior manager, who did nothing to help me advance my career. When asking a question to expand my knowledge and improve my performance I was called "stupid," I was derided for not already knowing the answer, and was told to "go look it up in a book and when you have the answer then come tell me." I had another direct female manager who came in late every morning, obviously hungover, slopping coffee all over herself, and would come to me and say "[my name] I'm not going to take this crap from you anymore" and other such pleasant greetings in front of all my co-workers. Never was I complimented on my work product or how hard I worked. Yet, when I finally left the company, there were 17 people at my going away luncheon, including several senior partners. But of course, the person who I had slaved for for over 7 years had a convenient excuse not to show up.

Advice to Management

Beware the sycophants who suck up to senior management but treat their junior staff like chattel. Treat people with dignity and respect; help people who are eager to learn new skills and enhance their performance instead of putting them down.

- Bad work/life balance- Really depends on who is on your team and what clients you are working for- Doesn't pay nearly as well as comparable positions outside Big 4- Time tracking and billable hours is SOOOO stressful

Advice to Management

Hire more staff, scope projects more realistically, reward performance with higher bonuses, make more of an effort to hold on to your best employees

If you get connected with the right people, you can definitely have some incredible experiences and meet great clients. Lots of opportunities are available for young staff members who show a lot of initiative.

Cons

It's easy to feel trapped by managers who don't want to share you with other engagements. You can end up spending years doing the same kind of work and the decision for your promotions is entirely in their hands.

Advice to Management

KPMG management should (1) increase overall compensation, (2) get more involved in understanding staff members' interests and goals, and (3) better support staff who show individual initiative by breaking the 'tradition' to reward them with promotions or other incentives.

Overall I think that KPMG is an OK place to work and start a career, but advancement in the firm is more about knowing the right people and kissing the right butts and avoiding getting hit with the blame for anything.

Cons

Long hours, mediocre pay and incompetent quote/unquote professionals make most days at KPMG less than bearable. Overall if you can put up with the BS its ok.

Advice to Management

I think that management needs to realize a lot of their staff are quite incompetent and rely heavily on the more advanced staff. Unfortunately, most of the rock stars realize this early on and leave for greener pastures since we don't know how to keep them around. As a result, the mediocre butt-kissers become the next wave of management.